A great start to the year for Santiago Buitrago, the 23-year-old cyclist finished all five stages of the Saudi Tour and was on the podium together with Ruben Guerreiro and Davide Formolo. Meanwhile, in the youth classification he prevailed against Jonathan Milan (squadmate) and Xabier Mikel Azparren (Euskatel-Euskadi). The Colombian finished with a total time of 20 hours, 20 minutes and 13 seconds.
Buitrago managed to be the protagonist in the five days of the race, he battled toe-to-toe with Guerreiro to the finish to just miss out on first place by nine seconds. His best stage was the fourth in which he finished third, but he was able to help his team to a victory on the second day through Jonathan Milan.
“I am very happy with my first race of the season and very happy with third place in the general classification. Today was a very fast day, and I was feeling good. The finish has been very complicated, starting with the last corner and with a very fast climb. I am very happy with the work of the whole team at this stage and throughout the week”, Buitrago told the official website of Bahrain-Victorious.
For now, The Colombian team has not confirmed more competitions for the runner who aims to do a great Giro d’Italiawhere the previous year he managed to win stage 17 of the competition, his best achievement so far in a big one.
This is how the top 5 of the Saudi Tour general remained
- Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar): 20:20′:04′’
- Davide Formolo (UAD): +8”
- Santiago Buitrago (TBV): +9
- Felix Grobschartner (UAD): +18”
- Jonathan Milan (TBV): +24”